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Noida STF arrests wanted man carrying reward of ₹50,000
Greater Noida: The Noida special task force (Noida-STF) Monday night arrested a 46-year-old wanted man from Sector Beta 2 area of Greater Noida. The suspect was
Greater Noida: The Noida special task force (Noida-STF) Monday night arrested a 46-year-old wanted man from Sector Beta 2 area of Greater Noida. The suspect was identified as Ajit Pradhan, a resident of Hapur. He was wanted for nine cases of loot, murder, and those under the Arms Act registered in Greater Noida and Hapur. The suspect was also wanted for a failed robbery bid on a petrol pump cashier in Greater Noida.
Raj Kumar Mishra, deputy superintendent of police (Noida-STF), said Pradhan and his five accomplices had planned to rob a petrol pump representative when he was going to deposit ₹17 lakh cash at a bank in Sector Beta 2 on June 24.
“We had received information that the gang members would be moving around Greater Noida in a WagonR car. The police intercepted the vehicle and arrested five men – Sunny, Rahul, Umesh, Suresh Singh and Paras Dagur — after an encounter and averted the robbery bid,” he said.
The arrested gang members revealed that they were operating on the directions of Pradhan, who was on the run. The UP Police had announced a reward of ₹50,000 on his arrest.
Mishra said police received a tip-off from an informer about Pradhan’s movement in Sector Beta 2 police station area.
“He was supposed to meet a man at night. A police team was deployed at the spot around midnight and the suspect reached there on foot. He started fleeing on noticing the police team. We chased the man and arrested him,” he said.
The suspect revealed that in 2003, a few history-sheeters had killed his brother, Vinod Pradhan.
To avenge the murder, he got involved in a gang and started committing crimes. In 2005, Pradhan came in contact with Ghaziabad-based gangster Rakesh Hasanpuria, and later he came in contact with Bulandshahr-based gangster Sensarpal Singh. In 2006, the suspect allegedly carried out a double murder in Hapur. He was arrested and sent to jail for over a year in that case. He was later released on bail and again got involved in criminal activities.
Mishra said in 2008, he got Delhi-based businessman Kishorilal killed in Bulandshahr, police said.
“He was again arrested and was in jail for the next three years. The Bulandshahr trial court sentenced him to death in that case in 2011, but he was acquitted by the high court,” the STF said in a press statement.
The statement added that the suspect continued committing crimes in Greater Noida, Hapur and Bulandshahr. The police produced him in court and he was sent to judicial custody on Tuesday.
